Ferbent is Hopeless

Ferbent has a 'pay as you' go phone which I usually discourage him from using. He tends to call me to tell me the most banal things. He's already called me three times today.

Firstly, he called me to let me know he forgot his keys for work. He didn't want me to take them to him or anything, just to let me know.

Then he called to see what I was having for lunch and if we could go to the Vans shop later today. He loves shopping, especially for shoes.

I just got off the phone with him because he wanted to let me know that his shoe laces keep coming undone! According to him this means we will be going on a trip soon. It's more likely that he'll trip up soon. It looks like I'll have to book a weekend away so he can say he was right.

Hopefully he'll run out of money soon so he won't be able to call me and I'll have some peace and quiet.

My Cat is Sick

I have two cats, Jade and Topaz, who live in Australia with my parents. They are both 17 years old so it's not surprising they're getting a little frail.

Topaz is not well. She doesn't eat much and only weighs around 2 kilos. To be fair, she's always been a very small cat but things got worse when she had a little adventure a couple of years ago.

She likes to sleep on my dad's car in the garage and one night when he went out she didn't jump off as she usually does and went for a bit of a ride instead. She held on for a while until the car went round the corner when she went flying off. I know that's what happened because someone witnessed it and made my dad pull over to tell him.

She went missing for 2 weeks and when she finally made it home she was skeletal. I can't believe she survived it at all. She never really regained the weight she lost. Part of the problem is that she's a very fluffy Persian and she's constantly coughing up fur balls, along with her dinner.

Yesterday she was pulling out a knot in her hair and took out a chunk of skin at the same time. That can't be good. I think she'll be off to the vet tonight.

I hope she's going to be ok.

Jade is quite different to Topaz. She's a very fussy eater but eats a lot and weighs more than 4 kilos. She's much healthier but I don't know if she'll last long without her sister.

I miss them.

Salon du Chocolat

I went to the Salon du Chocolat yesterday without a ticket which was a big mistake. You can buy the tickets online at FNAC but I didn't get around to it so I just turned up at Porte de Versailles. There was no queue for those who had pre-purchased tickets but the queue to buy tickets was ridiculous.

We couldn't be bothered to wait as it would have surely taken an hour or more to get in. It's on until Wednesday so I could go during the day when there would be fewer people, although I'd definitely buy a ticket before going.

It closes at 7pm so I won't be able to go with Ferbent. I don't know that I really want to go alone and seeing I'm having Thursday off to go to the tennis then I can't really afford to take another day off.

Missing the Salon du Chocolat was the first bad thing which happened yesterday but it got worse when I left the exposition centre. I wasn't paying attention when I left and as I walked out of the driveway I got hit on the head by the boom gate. I don't know how it happened or how I didn't notice it or why it came down right as I was walking under it but it happened.

I could say I was more embarrassed than anything else (there were a lot of people around) but in fact it hurt a lot. I now have a very big bump on my head and yesterday I had a terrible head ache.

I think that has turned me off of going to Porte de Versailles. Maybe I will spend the 12 euros which I was going to spend on the ticket on Jeff de Bruges chocolates.

Getting a Carte Vitale in France

I've been without any kind of health insurance for more than six months. Before that I had travel insurance which would have covered me for any emergency health care. I have a Carte de Sejour (French resident permit) and my husband is working full time and paying tax, so I am (or should be) entitled to health care in this country.

The thing is, I can't get a Carte Vitale (French health care card) until my husband gets his, presumably because he's a British citizen and I'm not. So I've been waiting for him to get his social security number and then the carte vitale.

Of course, being France, nothing is easy. Ferbent has been working for 8 or 9 months, all the while paying tax and social security contributions, without a social security number. They said he couldn't get it until he proves that he is a British citizen. He showed his passport and naturalisation certificate but that wasn't enough. They needed to see his birth certificate, even though he wasn't born in the UK. He doesn't have one so they refused to issue him with a carte vitale.

After numerous letters and phone calls, many of which were made by his French employer, they still refused. Arnold at Foreign Perspectives recommended citing European law which allows the freedom of movement of EU citizens. This seemed to be our last chance but I hadn't bothered.

Surprisingly, Ferbent received his social security number in the mail today with a note saying the carte vitale is on it's way and he should receive it in the next few days (which could really mean the next few weeks or months). In the mean time he can quote this number if he has to go to the doctor or for any other medical treatment.

I don't know why they changed their mind and gave it to him but I'm so glad they did. I didn't want to have to keep pushing them.

So now I should be able to quote his social security number, show my marriage certificate and birth certificate (or course), and I'll have my carte vitale. I'm sure they won't make it that easy for me but fingers crossed.

Salon du Chocolat | Paris | Porte de Versailles

The Salon du Chocolat started today in Paris. It only goes until Wednesday so I'd better hurry up and get my ticket. I'm sure this is one event not to be missed. I've heard it gets very crowded so I guess I'm not the only one who loves chocolate.

I've never been before so I don't really know what to expect. I know they have cooking and chocolate making demonstrations and also have fashion shows with clothes and accessories made of chocolate.

I'm just hoping they give out lots of samples!

It closes early each evening, at 7pm, so they doesn't leave much time to go after work. Maybe I'll have to go in the afternoon so I'll have plenty of time to check out everything. I won't be able to go with F if that's the case but maybe he won't mind - provided I take some chocolate home for him, that is.

Sleepy Weekend

I've been sick since Friday, with a cold, so didn't do anthing this weekend. I didn't even leave the house. That's pretty bad but all I wanted to do was sleep and I did exactly that. Sleep, play cards on the net and watch rubbish TV.

I have been out this morning though. I was supposed to go to the post office last Thursday so I had no choice but to go this morning. I had to post some tax stuff back to Oz. I had about 40 pages of documents for my accountant. It took me a whole day to get it all sorted out so now it's up to JF to do his magic. I hate accounting stuff. I studied it a bit at high school and at university and have even had a few jobs in accounts but never again. I can't think of anything more boring.

I am feeling a little better today so I really must get back to blogging. I need to write at least 3000 words per day to hopefully get more hits on my sites. They're not doing as well as I'd hoped so I've only got another 2 and a half months to start making minimum wage. That was my goal - to be making minimum wage by the end of the year otherwise I'll have to go out and get a 'real' job.

Tennis | Paris Open | BNP Paribas Masters

The Paris Open is on shortly and I can't wait to go. I've already bought my tickets for the Thursday, round 3, and Saturday for the semi finals. I went in 2000 and loved it. That was the first time I ever went to a tennis tournament and since then have been to Wimbledon and the Italian Open. I would love to go more often but the opportunity rarely arises.

The BNP Paribas Masters tennis tournament is held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy which is in the 12th in Paris. It's not a particularly nice area of Paris. It's not bad it's just that there's not much to see or do there. The tournament starts on the 30th October and finishes on the 5th November. Tickets are available from 14.50 euros to 64 euros. I paid 40 something. I don't remember it being so expensive last time I was there but I guess that's inflation for you.

The disappointing thing is that Roger Federer won't be playing. I saw him play live once before but that was years ago when he was just starting out. I would love to see him play now while he's at this peak. When I went to the Open before I saw Andre Agassi, Mark Phillipoussis, and the rest I can't remember. I have such a great memory.

Crazy French Banks

I can't understand why so many people still pay by cheque in France. I have often seen the French pay by cheque at the supermarket for amounts as low as 5 euros. They're crazy. I have never had a cheque book in my life and never will. On the rare occasion when I need a cheque I would get a bank cheque which takes about 5 minutes to get from the bank.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy in France. I must be one of the few people not to have a chequing account here. That doesn't bother me but I need a cheque to pay for my home contents insurance. The insurance broker I got it from is in Montpellier so I can't pay by cash and they don't accept credit cards.

I went to the bank on Friday thinking they would write out a cheque for me right there and then. I must have briefly forgotten where I was. Of course they couldn't write me a bank cheque on the spot. I need an appointment with one of their advisors. The earliest I can get an appointment is in 10 days time. Brilliant. My insurance is due in 1 week. Not only do I have to wait that long for a cheque but I need a one hour appointment to get it done. One hour! So in theory the bank 'advisors' (they don't have tellers at the bank) could spend their whole day writing 7 cheques! Very efficient. This is just another reason as to why this country is so crap.

Paris Motor Show | Porte de Versailles

I went to the motor show in Perth once and it was pretty boring. It was small and of no interest whatsoever. For that reason I was hesitant about going to the Paris Motor Show, along with the fact that I'm not that interested in cars. However, I would like to buy a small car soon so I went along with Ferbent, who was particularly interested in seeing all the luxury cars.

Tickets were 12 euros each and it was held at the exposition centre at Porte de Versailles in the 15th. It's not that far from my house but it took forever to get there as I had to go into Paris and then back out again on a different line. It was a pain but I made it. It was Friday night and surprisingly there weren't that many people there. Maybe the pouring rain deterred people from going.

We started off seeing all the latest small cars which I'm interested in buying. I love the Citroen C2 but it just doesn't have the features of the Peugeot 207. The 207 has 6 airbags as standard and optional leather seats and gps. The gps is an extra 2000E but I think it's worth it because it includes an inbuilt SOS button which you press if you breakdown, plus a telephone, and 5 CD player, as well as a street directory for all of Europe. That sounds good to me. I'd also get airconditioning and maybe a sunroof. With all the options I want it would cost around 19,000E. The basic car starts at 12,000E but I think I'd want the extras to be comfortable.

It was then off to see the luxury cars such as Porche, Ferrari, Lamborghini etc. For some reason I've always thought they were all ugly cars. I just don't get the attraction. I did like the latest BMWs though. I wouldn't mind the M6.

So what I thought would be a couple of hours of looking at cars actually took 4 hours but I didn't notice the time go by. Surprisingly I enjoyed going and I might even go again, in 5 years or so.

Going to the Gym in Paris

A week ago I joined a gym in Paris and not just any gym but for sure the best gym in this city. I had been thinking about it for a while but wasn't sure I could justify the expense. Why pay to exercise when I can walk for hours around beautiful Paris for free. Of course there are plenty more things to do at the gym than walk on the treadmill so I decided to sign up.

There is a public swimming pool with a small gym near my house in Boulogne Billancourt. I was going to join that because it's so close and they have a couple of large pools. I like to swim but hate having to share a lane with some slow swimmer and they're always so slow. In the end I decided against this gym because they only have a couple of treadmills and other cardio machines and having to wait to use them would annoy the hell out of me. Plus local schools use the swimming pool and a lot of parents take their children there too. There's no way I want to be swimming with lots of kiddies.

In the end I joined Club Med Gym. They have 22 clubs around Paris and I can use any of them. Only 5 or 6 have swimming pools and they are all very small but there are no kids or teenagers around. There's no way they could afford the membership at a whopping 999E per year. I can barely afford that.

I go to the club in the 16th and it's huge. There are about 50 cardio machines and plenty of weight machines. They have aerobics at all hours including aqua aerobics which I haven't tried yet but hope to. The 16th is a very bourgeois area of Paris so it's mainly professional people who go to that gym. That suits me because they are there to work out and not much else. Although, there does seem to be a bit of gossiping going on which seems strange to me.

So far I've gone swimming once, yesterday, following by a hammam (steam) and the other days I've used the gym. I haven't done aerobics yet as I don't like that it's open and everyone in the gym can and does watch those doing aerobics. The last thing I need is loads of people watching me struggling through a class. Maybe I'll do that when my fitness improves a bit.

What is most surprising about this gym is that everyone is so fit and so slim. I'm the only overweight person there. The girls are especially skinny. They must have been going every day for years. I feel a bit out of place but I'm getting over it.

I'm trying to go four or five times a week. It's a 30 minute walk there from my house so that's an extra hour or so (it takes me longer on the way home) of exercise for me which I hope will help me get fit sooner rather than later.